Summary

This important new book argues that Henry James' fiction reveals a sophisticated theory of moral understanding and moral motivation. The claim is that James is engaged in a distinctive kind of original thinking and reflecting on modern moral life in his novels and short stories. The book offers important new interpretations of many novels as well as several short stories. It is written by one of the pre-eminent interpreters of the modern European philosophical tradition and will interest philosophers as well as literary critics. Moreover, the style is completely non-technical, with no reliance on contemporary literary or philosophical theory, and will therefore be accessible to students and general readers.

Choice Review

Like Stanley Cavell, Pippin (philosophy, Univ. of Chicago) brings a philosopher's style and concerns to the discussion of literature, in this case James. Pippin characterizes James as believing "that a vast historical alteration had been taking place in Western European and American societies for some time, that this involved a change in basic mores and sensibilities, that it was especially visible in the privileged (reflective, intensely self-conscious, freed-from-the-necessity-of-labor) classes, though not limited to them, and this had ... greatly complicated our moral assessments of each other, the way we hold each other to some account for what we do." Pippin discusses the ramifications of these complications--especially with regard to the possibility of individual freedom and what it may mean to "live"--with special attention to The Spoils of Poynton, The Awkward Age, What Maisie Knew, The Turn of the Screw, The Beast in the Jungle, The Portrait of a Lady, The Golden Bowl, The Wings of the Dove, and The Ambassadors. Throughout, his observations bring to light problems, ambiguities, and arguments not always treated in discussions of these works. Graduate and research collections. J. J. Benardete; CUNY Hunter College